Hill Club

The Bay Hill Club will be a busy place beginning today.The local golf course is the site of this year's Florida State Amateur Championship, the 81st installment of the prestigious golf tournament.The magnitude of the four-day tournament and Bay Hill's reputation attracted 750 entries, the second-most ever.In 1991, the state amateur had 900 entries at Black Diamond Ranch in Lecanto.This year's field will be as tough as ever. Among this year's participants:Defending champ Mark Leetzow, who is trying to become the eighth person in the history of the tournament to repeat.

LADY LAKE - Harbor Hills Country Club is hosting the Lake County Classic, part of the National Golf Association's Professional Golf Tour. Alumni of the developmental golf tour, which was established in 1988, include several big names in professional golfing including Bubba Watson, Jim Furyk, Lee Janzen and John Daly. "The main purpose of the NGA Tour is to prepare our players to move on to the Web.com and PGA Tours," Robin L. Waters, Tour president, said in a news release. "By adding another top-notch course like Harbor Hills Country Club, our players will have yet another opportunity to prepare themselves for the next level.

The Fellowship of Christian Athletes will sponsor a non-denominational chapel service at 8:30 a.m. Sunday at the tennis courts at Bay Hill Club. The service is open to Bay Hill Classic players and the public. Wally Anderson, from the Professional Golfers Association tour, will give a short testimony during the service. Suellen Northrup, a player on the PGA mini-tour, will sing, and John Dolaghan, chaplain at Mayport Naval Station, Jacksonville, will deliver the message.

Life is definitely not a beach at the Bay Hill golf course. At least, that is, on hole No. 17. The hole was already recognized as one of golf's most difficult par 3s, but it is even more challenging with an extended beach bunker, one of the many changes unveiled at Arnold Palmer's Bay Hill Club and Lodge earlier this week. "It's like shooting at a postage stamp," joked club member Linda Cardilli. "But smaller." Bay Hill, the site of the annual PGA Tour's Arnold Palmer Invitational, reopened to members Sunday after being closed this summer for renovations.

The Nestle Invitational, which starts today at the Bay Hill Club, began in 1966 at Rio Pinar Country Club as the Florida Citrus Open Invitational.In 1979, Arnold Palmer took the tournament to the club he had just purchased, Bay Hill. The tournament became the Bay Hill Citrus Classic for one year, then the Bay Hill Classic in 1980. In 1985, Bay Hill became the Hertz Bay Hill Classic. The name was changed once again in 1989 to the Nestle Invitational to reflect the latest corporate sponsor.

UCF Athletic Director Keith Tribble announced that the school and head softball coach Renee Luers-Gillispie have come to terms on a new contract that will keep her with the Knights for at least three more seasons. Luers-Gillispie accumulated a 229-162-1 record at the helm of the UCF squad and a career NCAA record of 434-338-3 after posting a 38-26 record in 2007. Lead shared by 3 at HP Mu Hu of Celebration fired a 2-under-par 70 to grab a share of the lead after the first round of the HP Boys Junior Championship at Arnold Palmer's Bay Hill Club & Lodge.

The Boys and Girls Clubs of Volusia and Flagler Counties is again offering its after-school program at clubs in Daytona Beach, DeLand, Deltona, Holly Hill, Lake Helen and Oak Hill. Costs start at $5 per week. Some children will be able to take a school bus to the Boys and Girls Club in their area after school, through a partnership with Volusia County schools. The Deltona club is also able to transport a limited number of students from school in the club's van. The operating hours are 2 to 7 p.m. daily, with additional services and extended hours at some clubs.

Perhaps being medalist at the U.S. Junior Championship isn't such a good idea after all. Orlando's Sam Saunders became the latest upset victim who failed to survive after winning the stroke-play portion of the prestigious event, falling Thursday in the second round of match play at Longmeadow (Mass.) Country Club. The top-seeded Saunders, who finished 7 under to win medalist honors earlier in the week, never recovered from an early birdie run by Kevin Tway of Edmond, Okla., who held on for a 4-and-3 victory.

WHERE: Bay Hill Club & Lodge. WHEN: The pros will practice today. A pro-am tournament was held Monday while another -- and larger -- pro-am event will begin at 7:40 a.m.Wednesday. The tournament will run Thursday through Sunday. The first and second rounds are scheduled to last approximately from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. The third and fourth rounds are scheduled to begin at approximately 9 a.m. PURSE: $5.5 million, with the winner earning $990,000. FEDEX CUP POINTS: 25,000, with 4,500 going to the winner.

The Arnold Palmer Invitational lost one of its top-ranked players Wednesday when Anthony Kim withdrew from the event. Kim, 14th in the Official World Golf Ranking, said in a statement that he had the flu and had tried to get healthy enough so he could play. George McNeill, who has made the cut in three of the seven PGA Tour events he's played this year, took Kim's place. Late Wednesday afternoon, Paul Azinger withdrew from the field because of a hand injury, Tour officials said. His departure elevated Edgewater High and UCF alumnus Cliff Kresge into the 120-player field.

Lake Mary golfer Hojin Kang and former Seminole High golfer Joseph Byun were tied for 14th place Wednesday after the second day of the American Junior Golf Association's HP Boys Junior Championship at Arnold Palmer's Bay Hill Club & Lodge. Kang slipped to a 3-over-par 75 after an opening 71, while Byun shot a 71 to place him at 146. Christopher Walker of The Woodlands, Texas, led with a 68--140. Circle Christian's Andrew Colvin was the only other area golfer to make the cut, which was at 151 or better.

Tiger Woods sounded a little bit like a psychologist after he walked off Bay Hill's 18th green Friday afternoon. He had just missed yet another putt for birdie, and his diagnosis was simple: The golf course is suffering from its own version of a multiple-personality disorder. "The hard part was every green is slightly different speeds, and I have to make the adjustments," Woods said matter-of-factly. "And I was struggling to make the adjustment today." You could see his frustration almost every time he walked off a green during the second round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

UCF Athletic Director Keith Tribble announced that the school and head softball coach Renee Luers-Gillispie have come to terms on a new contract that will keep her with the Knights for at least three more seasons. Luers-Gillispie accumulated a 229-162-1 record at the helm of the UCF squad and a career NCAA record of 434-338-3 after posting a 38-26 record in 2007. Lead shared by 3 at HP Mu Hu of Celebration fired a 2-under-par 70 to grab a share of the lead after the first round of the HP Boys Junior Championship at Arnold Palmer's Bay Hill Club & Lodge.

Now, the going gets tougher for Vaughn Taylor. Taylor, the leader after three rounds at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, will tee off at 1:45 p.m. with a chance for his biggest victory in four years on the PGA Tour. To do it, he'll need to overcome a track record this year of poor play in the final round of tournaments. In 2007, he averages a score of just over 74 on Sundays. "I'm just trying to look at it as I've got my bad Sundays out of the way already," he said. Ben Curtis, who will be Taylor's playing partner today, lurks two shots back.

Thursday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational was a good day for Tiger Woods, Paul Casey and Vaughn Taylor. Woods reversed his recent mediocre play at the Bay Hill Club & Lodge with a 6-under-par 64. He sits atop the leaderboard in a three-way tie with Casey and Taylor. The trio's 64s equaled the tournament low for the first 18 holes. For Casey, an Englishman who's never won a PGA Tour event in his previous 49 starts, winning at Bay Hill would be a huge accomplishment. "Every week in America has a stellar field, but we've got the world's best here," he said.

Now, the going gets tougher for Vaughn Taylor. Taylor, the leader after three rounds at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, will tee off at 1:45 p.m. with a chance for his biggest victory in four years on the PGA Tour. To do it, he'll need to overcome a track record this year of poor play in the final round of tournaments. In 2007, he averages a score of just over 74 on Sundays. "I'm just trying to look at it as I've got my bad Sundays out of the way already," he said. Ben Curtis, who will be Taylor's playing partner today, lurks two shots back.

If they recorded Kim Fair on a time-lapse video Thursday, she would have looked like a very bossy hummingbird. Flitting around the ninth green at Bay Hill Club & Lodge, she flapped her arms about 250 times while shushing anyone who spoke too loudly. Condensed to a 30-second clip, it may have been quite amusing. In real time, it was 11 hours of work with one tangible perk. "I wanted to watch golf," Fair said. So she volunteered to work at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Key word: Volunteer.

WHERE: Bay Hill Club & Lodge. WHEN: The tournament runs today through Sunday. The first and second rounds are scheduled to last approximately from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. The third and fourth rounds are scheduled to begin at approximately 9 a.m. PURSE: $5.5 million, with the winner earning $990,000. FEDEX CUP POINTS: 25,000, with 4,500 going to the winner. DEFENDING CHAMPION: Rod Pampling, who shot 14 under. COURSE: 7,137 yards, par 70. TV: The Golf Channel will broadcast the first and second rounds today and Friday from 3-6 p.m. NBC (WESH-Ch.